March 8, 2018
Staff Feature — Gaby

Meet Gaby, Truvelle's founder and creative director:

What is your role at Truvelle?I'm the founder of Truvelle, and both run the company and handle its creative direction.

What does your typical day look like?I would say my typical day is at the office, replying to emails & meeting with various members of the Truvelle team. However, my days really are all over the place, and super dependant on the season. In the winter it's design season for me, so I spend a lot of time developing patterns & styles for the new collection. I also work like a madwomen in the winter... you'll find me at the studio until past midnight half of the week! The spring is lots of travelling, collection photo shoots, and getting everything ready for the new collection. Summertime is when we start producing the new collection, so I spend a lot of time working with our Production + Fulfillment departments to make sure the new styles are made correctly. And then in the fall we launch our new collection, so I work lots with our Sales, Marketing, and Content teams to make sure our new designs are available at our boutiques & properly promoted! We also do New York Bridal Market in fall, so it's a big sales season for us.

Is there anything most people get wrong about your job, or is there something that might surprise people to learn about your job?Many of the people who follow me on Instagram get the impression that I travel & do photo shoots all of the time, since that's what I mainly post! I can totally admit that it looks glamorous, but that's because I know people will get bored if I post a constant stream of me working on my computer at all hours of the day. There are a few things that surprise people — one would be that I am the sole owner of Truvelle & started the company by myself with zero funding (I took out a small personal loan to get the company going, and just worked really hard to get it to where it is now). People are also surprised to find that I spend a lot of my days replying to emails & managing the team.

Favourite Truvelle memory?Oh my gosh, I literally have a million. Every year, we go on a summer retreat which I really love. It's awesome being able to hang with everybody in an informal setting, and just enjoy summer together. A couple of years ago we went to Whistler and I had what was probably my favourite summer day ever. We all brought obnoxious floaties and Hey Ya'lls, and floated on the lake all day. It was the best.

Favourite city you’ve ever traveled to?This question is SO hard. I'm going to cheat a little and list off a few cities. I was recently in New Orleans and absolutely loved that city. The food was incredible, the people super friendly, and drinks were cheap (some of the restaurants there do 25 cent martinis at lunch, and I definitely took advantage of that haha). I also really love Montreal — it's still relatively cheap to live there, which has contributed to a huge community of artists. In Europe, I love Portugal (specifically Lisbon + Albufeira). I'm half Portuguese, and lots of my family still lives there so I get a really "authentic" experience when I visit. In Asia, I loved Hong Kong. I could actually see myself living in Hong Kong for a little slice of my life.

What is your favourite Truvelle gown and how would you style it?I loooooove Mary. I would style it with a statement earring — probably by Rachel Comey because I'm obsessed with her everything. For shoes, I'm really digging Maryam Nassir Zadeh white mules. My make-up would be super simple & not too far from what I do on my day-to-day. As for hair, I've been rocking a dusty rose colour for the past year and love it. I would totally keep the colour and add in some sleek curls.

Best way to spend a weekend?In the winter: sleeping in, nesting at home with my boyfriend for the afternoon, meeting up with some friends for dinner/drinks, and then playing board games all evening.In the summer : Still sleeping in, biking to the beach with friends, then back to my apartment for a bbq on my rooftop. Then, I'd want to go on a little nighttime adventure — in the summer Vancouver comes alive, and there are always house parties, events, ect happening around town.

Current tv show you’re binging?It's design season, so I'm spending super late nights at the studio & not really watching TV! However, the last series that I watched was The End of the Fxxxing World on Netflix. I also loved watching Big Mouth (so light and funny) and I'll watch Black Mirror whenever I'm feeling like watching a movie but don't want to be in front of a screen for more than an hour.